The second enemy, who labours to oppose my progress to the realms of bliss, is the flesh; dangerous enemy indeed, because never separated from me. Wherever I go, I carry this enemy in my bosom. Lord, save me from this sinful man, myself. The flesh harasses my soul:-1. By exciting evil affections and lusts, and stimulating to wicked and unlawful actions. 2. By resisting the good motions of the Spirit; stifling its convictions, and craving a little more indulgence on the lap of sinful pleasure. 3. By labouring to blind my understanding by false reasoning, and thereby aiding the tempter in his work of destruction. Thus inbred sin is always at work. I am only safe whilst vigilant and constant at a throne of grace. The third enemy, by whose subtlety and malice man became a child of misery, is the Devil. This great adversary of the human race, as well as the world and the flesh, has many devices and stratagems to deceive and to destroy. May I never forget my helplessness and danger; but ever look to Him who fought this champion in my nature, and overcame him by his own most precious death upon the cross. The devil harasses my soul,-1. by injecting evil thoughts; those firebrands of hell, which fill the mind with anguish, and almost drive the trembling sinner to despair. The feeble-minded and the low-spirited are exposed to this artillery of Satan; from which even the strongest and most joyous believer is not wholly exempted. When the enemy comes in like a flood, do thou, O! blessed Spirit, lift up a standard against him. When the overflowings of ungodliness make me afraid, then do thou arise, O! mighty conqueror of death and hell; so shall thy enemies be scattered; then shall they that hate thee flee before thee! The devil tempts me to ruin,-2. by presenting the bait of sin under false names and alluring colours. How many are destroyed by this temptation. The object of Satan is to represent the religion of Jesus as gloomy, unsocial, and forbidding; and the pleasures of the world as smiling, sociable and enchanting. Lord, make me watchful. "In vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird." Enable me to examine everything by the light of truth: to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good. He seeks my destruction,-3. by stirring up the wicked to persecute my soul; and by spreading stumbling-blocks to impede my progress towards the heavenly Canaan. These are but a small part of his devices, of which the believer is not ignorant. We are in an enemy's country. This is the field of battle. Here we must fight; but, if we endure faithful unto the end, we shall triumphantly join in the conqueror's song. My prayer must daily be, that I may never be suffered to indulge a thought, which I would not dare to express; or do an action in secret, which I should blush to have known. I do not expect, whilst in this state of mortality, to be free from every sinful thought, or effectually to prevent their entrance into the mind. This is the perfection of heaven. Yet I must labour after this blessedness by faith and prayer, or I am only a hypocrite and self-deceiver. The ready access which Satan has to the imaginative powers of the soul, and the quickness with which he can dart his poisonous suggestions into the heart, are most astonishing. No season is too sacred to prevent his bold intrusion. The house of God and the table of the Lord do not afford a sanctuary from this enemy. Judas stands on record as an awful witness to this truth. The Christian's private retirement is often greatly disturbed by this restless invader, who tempted the holy Jesus in the desert. He raises visionary schemes of profit or pleasure, to amuse the fancy or engage the passions. No art or stratagem is left untried, to tempt the harassed soul to forego its duties, or meditate on any thing rather than Christ, and holiness, and heaven. O! how precious at such a season are prayer and the word of God. The sword of the Spirit and allprayer are the weapons which Satan cannot long withstand, when wielded by the arm of faith. "Resist the devil, and he shall flee from you," is written for the encouragement of tempted pilgrims. Jesus But who can prevent the injections of Satan? I might as soon attempt to check the whirlwind in its course, or stop the flowing tide. Yet I may and must resist them by faith and prayer, or I shall perish by them. All-sufficient help is offered. has said, "My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness." The promise is, "God shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." I must daily seek this promised aid by humble, persevering prayer. Then as surely as the promise stands recorded in the Bible, so surely shall I come off more than conqueror through the blood of the Lamb. This is not, however, the work of an hour. The believer's warfare ends only with his life. He puts off his earthly tabernacle and his earthly troubles together. Ο my soul! take encouragement from that consoling question which was put to doubting Sarah : "Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" Almighty Saviour! when sin is working within me, and my soul is bowed down with sorrow: when Satan buffets me with his horrid assaults, and all seems darkness and despair: when unbelief would tempt me to give up all for lost: then may I hear thee speak in cheering accents to my soul, "Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?" O! let me never forget this animating question, which puts to flight a host of unbelieving fears. May I daily live upon thy grace, and rest on nothing, blessed Lord, but thee. When I contemplate myself, what do I behold? A nature polluted: a heart deceitful; a body every moment tending to decay; an understanding beclouded; a will depraved; affections in disorder; a memory retaining things forbidden; a creature, in short, born in sin; a child of wrath; an heir of hell. Awful as this portrait is, and humbling to the pride of carnal man, yet it gives but a faint representation of the original. And can such a hateful creature enter into heaven? Impossible! I must be born again. But can the Lord renew so vile a being, and cause the graces of his Spirit to abound in such a heart as mine? Hear, O! my soul, the words of thy Saviour which he spake to Sarah, as the ANGEL OF THE COVENANT: "Is any thing too hard for the Lord ?” I Lord, I believe help thou mine unbelief. believe thou canst in a moment raise me from a death in sin, to a life of righteousness; and shall I doubt thy willingness? Thou camest to call sinners to repentance. Thou camest to seek and to save that which was lost. Thousands in every age who have felt the power of thy regenerating grace, can witness to this delightful truth: that nothing is too hard for thee. O! heavenly Father, bestow on me, the vilest, the most unworthy of thy creatures, a look, a smile of love, for his dear sake in whom my soul delighteth, even Jesus, the sinner's friend. Thou art Almighty, nothing is too hard for thee. Let not unbelief, for one moment, stop the current of thy grace; but cause thy saving mercy to flow onward in my soul, till unbelief and pride, and every sin, shall be for ever lost beneath the powerful stream. Then shall I be able to tell some fearful, doubting saint, what thou hast done for my soul, and to the latest moment of my life proclaim with heartfelt joy, that nothing is too hard for thee. I will plead thy promise, Lord, I will trust thy faithful word; Since this precious truth I see, "As thy days, thy strength shall be.” Oft I feel an evil heart, Prone to wander and depart; But thy word still speaks to me, "As thy days, thy strength shall be." Satan, with his crafty wile, Seeks to fill my heart with guile; Yet the promise says to me, "As thy days, thy strength shall be." In whatever strait I come, While I journey to my home, "As thy days, thy strength shall be." LIII. ON INDWELLING SIN. NOTHING grieves the believer in Jesus so much, as the sin which dwelleth in him. He can feelingly adopt the language of the Apostle: "O wretched man that I am;"—and with him acknowledge, "we that are in this tabernacle, do groan, being burdened." Yet, let not the worldling imagine, that the be EE |